Shoot, Edit, & Share On The Go | Our Favorite Photography Apps

Welcome to this month’s Blogorail Black loop. Today we are sharing some of the best photography apps. This post may contain affiliate links.

Taking, editing, and sharing vacation photos used to be a time consuming process. Now, armed with a phone and some great photo apps, you can do all that while on the go, AND it doesn’t require you to give up using your DSLR.

My Nikon D40 and I have been through a lot together

I love my Nikon DSLR. I bought it not long after Lisa and I became parents, and I instantly became obsessed with snapping photos of Bella, and everything else in the world.

One of my first photo shoots with Bella and my new Nikon.

Sharing those photos was a process though.

Part of it is that I’m a bit particular about editing the photos. I like to take my time and get it right. But even without the painstaking editing process, getting the photos off the camera and onto the computer, and then uploaded to social media can be a chore.

With a phone and the right apps, that process becomes a lot easier. I am an android guy, and my current phone of choice is the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Lisa has an iPhone.

Here are my favorite apps for shooting, editing, and sharing “on the go”:

SHOOTING

I prefer my DSLR for many reasons, and those reasons all combine to create a better picture. But sometimes I don’t have the Nikon handy, so I have to reach for my phone. It’s got a decent camera, but I always feel I’m giving up a lot of the control I would have with my DSLR. Thankfully, there’s an app for that.

DSLR Camera Pro

This app works great with my Galaxy Note 2. It allows me to do things that the normal camera app did not. I can set my ISO, my exposure, white balance, etc, all within the app as I am setting up my shot. It cost me $3 from the Google Play store, but it was $3 well spent!

Aurasma

Aurasma is an “augmented reality” app. It recognizes certain things you point your camera at and adds enhancements to it. We first learned about this app last summer at Walt Disney World as part of Frozen Summer Fun. At certain places in the park, we could take photos of ourselves and have Disney characters added right through the phone! It was a Do-It-Yourself Magic Shot! They also have this for Star Wars Weekends and I hope they will add more places to use it.

Disney Memories HD

Not to be outdone, Disney has their own app for adding Magic to your photos. Disney Memories HD is free, and lots of fun! It’s a must for Disney fans like us!

EDITING

My favorite photo editing software is Adobe Lightroom. Until recently, I could only use it on my PC or Laptop. Now they have an app.

Adobe Lightroom Mobile

To use it, you need to be a subscriber to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, and if you are, then this puts the power of Lightroom in the palm of your hand. Needless to say, I’m also a big fan of Adobe Photoshop Touch and Express.

Not willing to splurge for Adobe, then I suggest going with one of the best free editors out there…

Snapseed

It does a lot and I find it easy to use.

SHARING

The whole reason for shooting and editing on your phone is that your phone is very portable, and can instantly share with the world, or just your friends and family. That said, the first two sharing apps I have are primarily for sharing with myself… or should I say, sharing between my devices.

Eyefi Mobi

This app has some editing/sharing features, but what I want from it primarily is its ability to pull my photos from my DSLR camera right into the phone, wirelessly. The app is free, but it does require that I have an Eyefi Mobi Wi-Fi SDHC Card in my camera to make it all possible. For me, this is a game changer, because now I can shoot with my DSLR, and edit/share those shots on the go from my phone. It’s incredible!

Dropbox

The other app for sharing with myself allows me to free up room on my phone as well as pull files from the cloud when I need to. Dropbox gives you 2GB of free storage, with paid plans for more storage. It’s great as a backup tool.

Instagram

Until recently, I wasn’t a huge fan of Instagram. My big problem with it was the fact that I could only share what was on my phone, and I preferred my DSLR. With the apps above, that’s no longer a problem. Pics I take with my Nikon can be edited in my phone and shared via Instagram. The square aspect still bugs me a little, and I am patiently awaiting an android version of AntiCrop.

Flickr

I’ve never met a photographer that doesn’t love Flickr. The amount of storage you get plus the fact that they don’t compress your photos are just two of the features that makes Flickr the best photo sharing site. Their app lets you upload right from your phone.

With these apps, I no longer feel like I’m giving up the ease of sharing when using my DSLR, nor do I feel that I’m sacrificing quality and control over my photos when all I have is my phone.

I also have a NIKON D40 and want to wireless transfer to my phone for sharing. All I need is the Eyefi sd card? Just wanted to n=make sure before i order one. My husband got me a nikon adapter but does not fit my “old d40” so i had to send it back…Thanks Cheers